Reading table content plays a very important role in parsing documents that contain table contents. Such documents can be invoices, bills, shipping receipts, medical or insurance claim forms, financial spread sheets, and the like. Considering the large variations of table designs on these documents, providing a correct reading order that helps the parsing of document content is a challenging task. Reading tables from document images, especially when the images have skewing or handwriting, is even more challenging. The technique described herein addresses these issues by providing a methodology for detecting and separating table grids from scanned document images.